Hmm...you'll do.

Teahouse fanart! I'd write a review or recommend Teahouse, but I think it's too early to do either. There's only 8 pages so I say give it a go. But I can't really make heads or tails of it this early in the game. I don't think you will be disappointed since both creators are professionals and it shows in their work. I will say, so far, this is some of the best paneling I have seen in an online BL comic. Just lovely.

A Spotlight on Epic by E. K. Weaver Part 1

If you go to ygallery, no doubt you've clicked the Today's Tops tab and seen E. K. Weaver's characters TJ and Amal a few times. If you watched her, you learned more and more about her characters through her sketches, comics, and illustrations. Her goal is to print the story of these two boys, but for now she's made them available to us through her website

So far there is about 57 pages of The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal up. I had wanted to wait until there was at least 100 pages before giving a small review, but currently there are a couple of things in Epic I find both interesting and problematic that I wanted to highlight here.

Today I'm going to focus on the two main characters and tomorrow I'll write about my thoughts on the art, layout, a dialogue. Beware, there are small spoilers ahead.

Epic opens with Amal (pictured above) storming out of a house followed by a woman. They talk, but Amal can't be consoled. He enters his car and drives around aimlessly before ending up at a bar where he gets plastered. I want to note this whole scene has no dialogue. While it does work stylistically, I feel we miss out on getting to know Amal. This detachment might have been done purposefully since Amal himself has become detached. She sets up a void between the reader and Amal that will slowly fill as the story develops. It can possibly work, but I won't know until there's more meat to this story.

Amal's character may be a skeleton that needs some fleshing out but TJ (above) will make you fall in love. He approaches Amal at the bar after over hearing a conversation he has with his sister where he declares he will drive cross-country to go see her. Obviously too drunk to drive, TJ escorts Amal home where the next day he updates him on a plan they had hashed out whilst he was drunk. TJ wants to tag along on Amal's cross-country drive, he even offers to cover all travel expenses. Why does TJ want to join Amal and why is he willing to pay for all expenses is a mystery Weaver sets up beautifully. TJ is a paradox. He seems very open and honest, yet he's shrouded in mystery. He's very charismatic, so as a reader you warm up to him instantly and you want to learn more about him. But can you trust him? Should Amal trust him? There are situations that transpire that makes TJ out to be a trustworthy individual, however, Weaver keeps throwing in these little tidbits that make you question TJ.

What we've had so far, up until chapter 7, is basically two people who share the same space but have no real interaction. When TJ speaks Amal hears him, but he's so far gone in his own little world he doesn't listen. I like this concept, but certain aspects of it can further alienate the readers. I believe the dialogue is working well, but there are places where the layout widens that gulf.

And I shall leave it there and pick up with layout tomorrow. See ya then!

Here, have some fanart

I had originally planned on posting a review of the webcomic The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal but today has been especially busy. Lots of running around. I'll have it up tomorrow and hopefully other stuff if errands don't get sprung on me again. Until then, here's a WIP of a fanart I've been working on. See ya guys tomorrow!

It's a revival! Hallelujah!

So, way back when I actually updated this blog in a timely manner I wrote a post about the webcomic Tei and Riki. I mostly wrote some of my thoughts on why I believed the comic went from a comedy to an angst-fest. Not long after I made that post I received an email from the creator, Eve, who kindly informed me of the reason for the change. Being the total fangirl I am, I spazzed at receiving an email from the person who I give full credit for sparking my love of BL. Yeah, Yu Yu Hakusho got me into yaoi, but Tei and Riki introduced me to the world of original man on man lovin'. I really had no idea any of that even existed until I fell upon Tei and Riki. Plus, Tei and Riki was something my sisters and I would gather around the monitor and read together. Ah, memories.

One of the things I was hoping to hear from Eve was that she had a DA page or something going on at the Y!, but sadly, not a word. Until today. I recently received a message from some awesome person who has informed me that Eve does have a page over at DA and she is continuing Tei and Riki. I thought I'd pass this great news along to everyone else. So, if you're like me and been hopin' for new updates on Tei and Riki head on over here and check 'em out.

A look back on BL webcomics of yore.

One facet of BL I believe tends to get overlooked are webcomics and the role they played in introducing people to the genre, especially in the US. Although some individuals may still get their first taste of boy/boy lovin' from webcomics, my focus is on a time period before Gundam Wing, high-speed internet, and the formation of scanlation groups such as Obsession and Nakama made it readily available to all. I'm writing about the mid-to-late 90's. Although during this time it was possible to find yaoi, BL was almost non-existent anyplace outside of Japan. Yes, there were always little groups of people who swapped scans, and we had aestheticism that did reviews and provided translations and bunches of other services, but BL wasn't as accepted as it is today, so to create a BL webcomic took a lot of courage.

My first BL webcmic was a high school romance called, "Tei and Riki".

There are four chapters in the comic and to this day it remains incomplete. The story takes place in a Japanese all boy school and follows Riki and how his attraction to Tei turns both their lives upside down. The first three chapters are comedic as Riki forms a hairbrain scheme to get closer to Tei and in retaliation Tei creates one of his own to get Riki away from him.

Of course, as is required by romance law, nothing goes as planned for either of them. The two end up going their separate ways but because they operate within the same group of friends it isn't long before they have to make contact again. This happens at a ski resort where we learn Tei has issues and Riki isn't able to get over his crush. This fourth chapter entitled "Journey", diverges from the comedy path and takes on a serious tone. I remember being turned off by this chapter when I was younger and to this day it doesn't seem to blend well with the previous chapters. Tei's "issue" seems to come out of nowhere and the way Riki reacts to Tei's problem, I felt, was over dramatic.

Reading it now, I feel as if the creator didn't really have a clear direction of where her comic was going. Also, I believe she was being led by two different audiences. I remember around the time she started drawing the fourth chapter, the comic began being archived on a site for homosexual readers. And here lies the problem. BL, is for a straight female audience. But I believe when Eve, through her work, began to meet more people who were homosexual she wanted to stop making light of something that is a very serious issue for some people. I'm not saying it's impossible to make a story with both audiences in mind, but I don't think Eve knew how to do this.

Despite the unevenness of the writing, the artwork improves greatly by this point. The characters are better proportioned, her screentoning improves, and her backgrounds become more greatly detailed.

Isn't this page just beautiful? Really, compare it with the one I posted above it and I'm just floored by how much she improved. Anyway, if you want to read Tei and Riki yourself you can still find the website here. It's a fun read and you might enjoy watching the progression of the art as I did. I'm really curious what happened to Eve, though? I wonder if she kept drawing? Maybe I could find her on DA? If you have any info, pass it my way. I would love to see how much she's improved by now.